Edmund Hewlett

Edmund Hewlett (1 September 1736-) was a Major of the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. Hewlett served as the garrison commander in Setauket, New York, and he led the British in their efforts to stop the Culper Ring; he commanded the British forces at the battle of Setauket on 22 August 1777. Hewlett came from an aristocratic background and was a friend of astronomer William Herschel, and he was known to be a lover of the humanities and arts.

Biography
Edmund Hewlett was born on 1 September 1736 to a wealthy aristocratic family in England, and he was forced to join the British Army to support his family after the Boston Port Act led to financial trouble for his father. Hewlett was commissioned as a Major, and he was sent to assume command of the garrison of Setauket in Long Island, a post that required him to combat espionage by the Culper Ring. Major Benjamin Tallmadge and Samuel Holden Parsons led a raid against Setauket on 22 August 1777, and while the raid succeeded in freeing some accused spies from execution, the British forced the colonials to retreat. Hewlett was captured by the rebels and held in a cage, and Hewlett was forced to cut off several of his own toes due to a severe frostbite infection developing. Hewlett managed to escape from capture when John Graves Simcoe led a raid on the rebel camp, but Simcoe and Hewlett developed a rivalry due to Simcoe framing Hewlett for a murder. Eventually, the rivalry culminated in the Queen's Rangers under Simcoe and Hewlett's British regulars brawling at the Strong Tavern, ruining the place.